Tempest’s Legacy (36 page)

I grinned up at her. “It did, didn’t it?”

Cappie laughed, patting my head. “It’s not over, though. You know that, right?”

“Of course,” I said. “It’s only begun.”

“What are your plans?”

“All of the prisoners will eventually be transported to the Compound, but Anyan and I are taking the goblin doctor back now. He can finger Jarl. More important, the goblin’s father, who got him involved in all of this in the first place, is one of the oldest and most powerful of the goblins, and a total minion of Jarl’s. If we can get him to squeal, even Orin and Morrigan will have to listen.”

The tall woman frowned. “Is it safe?”

I shrugged. “Who knows? But none of us are safe right now anyway. Something has to be done.”

That was one fact with which everyone was in agreement, even the most cautious of the supes who had been involved in raiding the mansion. Seeing the extent of the operations in that place drove home to everyone how badly this needed to be stopped.

“Well, be careful. Both of you. I’d give my eyeteeth to go with you, but we can’t…”

“No, you can’t take that risk,” I said. “I’m sure the Alfar would love to get their hands on you, to find out more about the Borderlands. In fact, you should get out of here soon, before somebody puts two and two together…”

Cappie nodded, then leaned down for another hug.
“You’re a great gal, Jane. Come visit when all this is over. And be careful.”

The tall woman straightened, then looked around. “I’ll just say good-bye to Anyan… Oh, and Jane?”

“Yeah?”

“Be patient with that one. He can be a bit slow sometimes. Better yet, be bold.”

“Bold?”

“Bold.”

“Um… Okay. I’ll try.”

Capitola laughed, patted my cheek again, and then wandered away to say good-bye to Anyan.

Be bold?
I thought.
With Anyan?
Even my libido was rather nervous about that idea.

I watched as the barghest said good-bye to Cappie, incapable of not comparing myself to the beautiful halfling.

That’s who he should be with… Somebody fierce, like him…

Anyan looked up and caught my eye, giving me a tight smile in response. He’d mostly been avoiding me since the scene behind the shed. That whole, crazy moment had obviously been a product of adrenaline, stress, and profound irritation (his for me), and I knew I needed to forget whatever had happened between us.

Anyan obviously has,
my brain intoned sadly.

I watched as Tryptich said their good-byes and made ready to stride off into the forest. They’d call Terk, and he’d apparate them back home. If any lingering purebloods felt the brownie’s First Magics, they’d probably think they were crazy.

But before they left, they had one last surprise.

“Julian?” Capitola called. “You ready?”

My fellow halfling was standing among his Boston crew, but when Capitola called for him he stepped away from them.

“Julian, what the fuck?” Ryu snarled, staring at his deputy as if Julian were tap-dancing naked.

“I’m sorry, sir. But I’m giving you my notice. I’m leaving.”

Ryu looked apoplectic, and I took a step backward even as Tryptich and Anyan took a step forward.

“How could you betray your people like this?” he snarled, his fangs elongated in rage.

The look Julian gave Ryu in return was both proud and sad.

“You have always treated me well, sir. As have you, Caleb, and you, Daoud. You have all treated me like an equal, always. But as long as I live in the Territory, I’m not an equal. I’ll always be just a halfling. One with a good power and one that people want around, but never an equal.”

Ryu looked like he was going to argue, but Caleb stopped Ryu by placing a hand on his shoulder.

“I’ve loved working for you, and I’ve been happy in the bubble we created in Boston. But it was just that: a bubble. The minute I left I was put back in my place. You’ve seen it happen, sir.”

Ryu’s fangs had slowly retracted, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

“I have,” he said finally, grudgingly.

“I’m tired,” Julian whispered, so quietly we had to strain to hear him. “And I want to feel at home.”

“And you felt at home, with them?” Ryu said, jerking his head toward Capitola and her friends.

“Yes.”

Ryu sighed, scrubbing a hand over his tired face, through his now longish, brassy hair.

“Then go. Keep in touch if you can,” he added resignedly.

“Thank you, sir. Please tell my mother… Tell her I love her. That I’ll see her again. That I’ll finally be free, and so will she. She’s looked out for me for so long… She has to be tired, too.”

Ryu nodded once sharply. “I’ll tell her. Good-bye, Julian. It’s been a pleasure to work with you.”

He stepped forward, his hand extended, and took Julian’s own proffered palm. After they’d shaken hands, Ryu backed away. He gave me a hard look before striding off toward where his car was parked. Then he drove away, leaving his deputies with us.

I had no idea where he was headed.

I felt someone nudge my elbow and saw that Anyan was beside me, holding out a red-paisley handkerchief. It was only then I realized that I was crying like a baby over Julian’s defection.

“It’s clean,” he murmured. “Ish.”

I took it delicately, making sure I wasn’t about to mop my face with barghest snot, before using it to wipe away my tears. Then I blew my own nose into it noisily.

Julian came and hugged me, told me he’d call me. Then he shook everyone else’s hands and went off into the forest with Capitola, Moo, and Shar. I was so happy for him. And even happier I now had a good excuse to keep in contact with the fabulous ladies of Tryptich.

“About ready to go?” came that rough voice from behind me. I turned to face the barghest.

“Yup.” I nodded, wiping the last of my tears away and giving my nose one last, thorough blow. Then I looked pointedly from the barghest to his handkerchief.

“You can keep that one, too.” He grinned, and I couldn’t help but return his infectious smile.

“What about the doctor?”

“He’s ready. Not happy at all about the idea of confronting his father or Jarl, but he’s gonna do it.”

“Like he’s got a choice.” I grinned, remembering my threats of castration.

“He does have a lot to atone for…”

“What are they gonna do with the rest of the prisoners?”

“Transport them. We’re rounding up some buses now.”

“What about the captives?”

“They’ll be sent to clinics like the one you saw, all over the Territory. Our healers are gonna be busy for a while. Did Iris leave already?”

I nodded glumly. That had been the hardest thing to do: say good-bye to Iris. The succubus hadn’t wanted to leave my side, and I hadn’t wanted her to leave. But she needed medical attention, and safety, not a crazy, possibly suicidal mission to attempt bearding Jarl in his own den.

So I’d hugged her, again and again, then watched as she got into a car with one of the local investigators. Dressed now in scrubs, rather than that horrible, filthy T-shirt, she looked so lost and vulnerable it had taken everything I had in me not to wrench her out of that car and take her home to Rockabill.

That would have been shortsighted, however. For this was going to be wrapped up, one way or another. We had an opportunity to grab Jarl by the short hairs, and we
needed to act on it. Now was the time to end the Alfar second’s reign of terror.

So right before saying good-bye to the girls, I’d waved good-bye to my Iris, knowing she needed to be safe. After which I loaded our goblin doctor into a borrowed SUV, so we’d be ready to take off as soon as Tryptich made their getaway. The rental car I’d stolen was out of commission, so we’d acquisitioned new vehicles from local investigators. Daoud and Caleb were in one car; Anyan, the goblin, and I in the other. Ryu might have buggered off, but his deputies were seeing our mission through to its bloody end. Soon enough, however, they shot ahead of us, on their way to Boston where they’d pick up Camille and another vehicle. Then they’d meet us in Montreal, at which point we’d have three cars in our convoy.

But no more Team Halfling
, I thought, both happy for Julian and sad he wouldn’t be here to see the mission come to its end.
Oh well, he was rubbish in a fight anyway.

When we were all ready to go, Anyan took the driver’s seat and I settled myself next to him, on the passenger side, the goblin doctor in back. We were finally headed off to end it all at the place where it had begun: the Territory’s Compound outside Quebec, where we’d confront Jarl and his minions.

But first we were going to get some rest.

The mansion turned out to be a forlorn vestige of Pennsylvania’s industrial past, right outside Allentown. I never even thought to ask where we were until I saw a sign on the highway. As soon as we came across something relatively decent, we rented rooms in a hotel—one for me, one for Anyan and the goblin. First I took a long, very hot shower—trying to scrub away the filth of that
place. I lay down warily, frightened of the dreams my sleeping brain would plague me with after all the horrors I’d seen in the past twenty-four hours. But to my surprise, I was out like a light as soon as my head hit the pillow, and I slept heavily and dreamlessly until very early the next morning.

After a quick breakfast and another superhot shower for me, we were off. The trip to Montreal was a bit surreal. I wasn’t all too comfortable in front of our captive, and Anyan didn’t seem to want to talk. So most of the time we were all silent, except for an occasional request for a pit stop or a short debate on which roadside restaurant to choose for lunch.

I kept telling myself it was just the presence of Avery that kept Anyan and me from talking to each other, but I knew it was more than that. He was barely even looking at me, and I could feel the tension between us.

Why is he so distant?
my libido questioned plaintively. After what had happened behind the shed, it was convinced we’d be making out by now. Instead, we were barely speaking.

He never meant to react that way
, I told myself, trying to batten down the surge of sadness I felt.
And now he doesn’t know how to take it back. He doesn’t want to hurt me, but he doesn’t really feel the way he acted. We were all just stressed…

So I did what I normally do when someone doesn’t seem all that impressed with me: I pretended to sleep. It wasn’t hard, mostly because I think I did fall asleep. After all my recent shenanigans, I was exhausted. I also really needed a swim.

That evening found us in Montreal, at a swank hotel,
waiting for our backup to arrive. Anyan still wasn’t really talking, and I was getting increasingly pissed off. I got it that he regretted his actions, but they were
his
actions. He didn’t have to be a dick to me just because he didn’t like his own behavior.

“Do you want dinner?” Anyan asked, trying to hand me the room service menu.

“Whatever,” I said, not taking it.

“Well, are you hungry?”

“Doesn’t matter to me,” I said. But my stomach betrayed my passive-aggression routine by yowling like a bobcat.

“You’re hungry. We’ll eat,” the barghest said, dropping the menu in my lap.

“Whatever,” was my petulant reply to his back as I angrily rubbed my disloyal belly.

We ordered and ate, all in silence. Even the goblin—trapped in his own funk of fear and guilt—seemed to notice something was up between Anyan and me, since he kept glancing between the two of us.

It wasn’t until the others arrived that we talked freely.

“Camille,” I greeted Ryu’s baobhan sith second with trepidation, as she was also Julian’s mother.

“Jane,” Camille said, smiling. “How are you?”

“I’m fine,” I responded. “But how are you? About Julian, and everything?”

She smiled. It was a sad smile, but it was a smile. “I’m happy for my son. And I know I’ll see him soon. In the meantime, he’s already e-mailed me. Not even our borders can stop e-mail,” she said, winking at me.

“Good,” I said, so happy to see she was doing okay with her son’s defection.

“Now, let’s take you swimming. You look like you could fall over, and I know the perfect place…”

Camille took me to one of the many enormous lakes surrounding Montreal, where I swam for a good two hours. Thoroughly charged, I felt like a million bucks when we returned to the hotel. Then, after a short strategy session, we all dispersed to our various bedrooms. We’d rented two suites, each of which had two bedrooms and a foldout couch in the lounge, so after a bit of shuffling we were all installed in a bed somewhere. Caleb ended up bunking with the goblin on the foldout sofa in the main room. After losing one prisoner, we weren’t taking any chances.

But another night passed peacefully, and between the two solid nights of rest and my swim, I felt almost like myself again. I was still pissed about Anyan’s treatment of me, but whatever. I kept telling myself that it was better to learn the barghest was an emotional fucktard
now
, rather than later. Not that it helped really. For every time I remembered the feel of his arms around me it was like somebody punched me in the gut.